Musing from the desk of Laura D: Do you know I love you?

I recently attended a funeral for my Aunt who passed away 2 weeks before her 86th birthday. Aunt Peggy was my mother’s oldest sister and beloved by everyone. My family members are flung across the miles so, we don’t really see each other often. Gathering for an extended weekend every other year at best, sometimes missing a few years in between because of LIFE, our time together is not as frequent as I would like.

As I sat through the service, I allowed my eyes to rest on each family member in attendance. I suddenly had a flood of memories, moments from long ago attached to realizations of how they had touched my life and I sat there feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

They had loved me, supported me, prayed for me and shared with me.

They had made me laugh, hugged me tight and helped me dry my tears.

Each one of them were extraordinary and unique and special and I was overcome with this desire to make sure everyone new without a doubt that I loved them.

And as the funeral service was ending and we were being led to the gravesite, I hugged as many necks as I could, but it just didn’t seem like the right time to say “Hey, I love you so much and you are really wonderful.” So I didn’t.

Now I’m home, sitting with a blank page and a full heart.

Remember the scene in Good Will Hunting when the therapist (played by Robin Williams) tells Will (played by Matt Damon), that the abuse he suffered isn’t his fault? Williams says “See this, all this *$?#, It’s not your fault.” and Damon whispers “Yeah, I know” And Williams takes a step closer and says “Look at me son, It’s not your fault.” And Damon replies “I know.” And Williams repeats “It’s not your fault.” over and over again until Damon finally receives it and breaks down. Williams keeps saying the words over and over again because sometimes people hear what you are saying, but they don’t receive the information. They don’t believe it.

I have told each of my family members that I love them. I know they heard me. But do they believe me? Do they know that I love them? That I appreciate the prayers and the gifts and the words of encouragement? Do they know that I admire who they are and all they have accomplished? Do they know that I cherish the time we spent together and that the memories we created are priceless?

Maybe not. And that makes me sad. So I hope to do better. I vow to share the things that are filling my heart so my family has no choice but to believe me.

My full heart (and rapidly filling page) have brought me to this marketing related thought: Do our clients know how much we enjoy working with them? How we love to create articles, collateral, TV spots and strategies for them? Do they know that by putting their trust in Media Vision Advertising, we get to express our creativity? Do they know that we are very thankful for their business and that we enjoy working with them and that each of them are extraordinary and we feel lucky to get to help them share with the world what makes them unique?

Well, they do now!
On behalf of the MVA team: A heartfelt thank you to our clients.
We love working with you and we think you are pretty special.(PS – We’ll tell you ourselves the next time we talk)